Work ques­tions colo­nial im­pact

An Eltham born artist’s work is cur­rently on dis­play at Fen­ton Street Art Col­lec­tive.

Diane Stop­pard’s ex­hi­bi­tion Taranaki — Warp and Weft ques­tions the colo­nial im­pact on the Taranaki land­scape in which she was born and raised.

When the Euro­pean set­tlers ar­rived the men built roads and fences to ‘tame’ the land. The women folk made ‘good’, re­pur­pos­ing flour sacks with lace edg­ing.

Us­ing the warp and weft of an­tique linen and lace, the threads of our land­scape and his­tory are ex­am­ined.

Born in Eltham, Taranaki, Diane Stop­pard has had a long pho­to­graphic ca­reer, start­ing at age 14 work­ing at Con­nell Stu­dios in Eltham, Taranaki. Spend­ing three years work­ing in New Ply­mouth at Char­ters & Guthrie (John Craw­ford & As­soc) in the late 80s, Diane went on to work in New York and Lon­don, fi­nally set­tling in Whanga¯ rei, North­land, where she has es­tab­lished a ca­reer as a com­mer­cial pho­tog­ra­pher, us­ing the Pin­hole Cam­era and Cam­era Ob­scura.

The ex­hi­bi­tion runs through to early Jan­uary.

One of Diane’s pieces cur­rently on dis­play at the Fen­ton Street Art Col­lec­tive.